Instead of just listing some good headphones, which probably isn’t much help, let me see if I can qualify you a bit and figure out what you’re looking for. If you've checked out Beats already, what drew you to them? There are multiple Beats models, so I’ve tried to include options and alternatives that fit their various offerings.

Oh, and the product links are to respected reviews (either ahem mine, or reviewers I trust).

Style

This is, obviously, the most difficult and highly subjective.

It may come as a shock, but I have no idea what kind of style you like.

There are lots of cool looking headphones, but many don’t sound great. Two options to get your started that do sound great are the $180 Onkyo ES-HF300 (shown above) and the $400 B&W P7. Both look cool, and a little different. The Parrot Zik 2.0's are probably the best looking over-ear headphones going right now, though they have some quirks. The RHA T10i's are some gorgeous in-ear headphones.

Also check out my review of the gorgeous on-ear Harman Kardon Sohos that fold compact and flat.

There are several excellent sounding earbud options. I like the original B&W C5s, which I mentioned in my 5 Best Travel Headphones article. I haven't had a chance to listen to the new C5 Series 2 yet, though. The $100 NHT Superbuds are my favorite in that price range. Lots of bass, but solid mid-range and treble.

At the other extreme are the Shure SE846, which are some of the best sounding headphones I've ever heard. Certainly a different price range, at $1,000, but an interesting perspective of what's out there.

This category is pretty easy too, as I’ve heard and reviewed a LOT of headphones both in the same price range as the Beats, and above and below in price. For similar money, the PSB M4U 2 headphones offer decent noise cancelling, and much better sound. The non-noise cancelling version, the M4 U1s, are Wirecutter's pick for the best $300 headphone (and rightly so).

If you don’t mind dropping the noise cancelling, Brent Butterworth over at About.com really likes the NAD VISO HP-50 over-ear headphones (shown here). They were designed by the same guy who designed the M4U 2s. The aforementioned B&W P7s are also good, and I’m particularly fond of the Sennheiser Momentums.

Or if you want to go really crazy, check out the Oppo PM-1s. While $1,000, they're in a whole other league. Switching to yet another league, the big over-ear $2,000 Audeze LCD-3 open-back headphones, or the closed-back $1,800 Audeze LCD-XC are incredible. I know, a lot of money, but if you have a chance to check them out, they’re pretty awesome and can give some perspective on the range of sound quality with headphones.

Conclusion

Like I said, if you want Beats because they’re Beats, go for it. If you’re more brand agnostic, the picks mentioned here should give you a good idea of what’s available for similar (or less) money.